It's rare that an image has such an impact the world over. Aylan Kurdi was a 5-year-old refugee who drowned along with his mother and brother while escaping Syria and heading for Greece. The image made global headlines and immediately went viral, prompting an international outpouring of sympathy for refugees. Kurdi's father survived but has since returned to Syria.
In June, Caitlyn Jenner made her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair. Formerly Bruce, Caitlyn opened an unprecedented level of discourse surrounding LGBTQ rights and what it means to be accepted as transgender in America and the wider world. She also smashed a world record by becoming the fastest person to achieve 1 million followers on Twitter in just four hours and three minutes.
On January 7, two gunmen forced their way into the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 journalists in response to the publication of depictions of the prophet Mohammed. The magazine published this front cover on the next issue, showing the prophet holding a sign reading "Je Suis Charlie," the slogan used as a sign of solidarity in the wake of the attack.
British-born Mohammed Emwazi, better known as "Jihadi John," became the poster boy for ISIS after appearing in several videos executing British, Japanese, American, and Syrian hostages in both 2014 and 2015. He was killed in airstrikes in Al-Raqqa, Syria, on November 12.
Same-sex marriage was made legal in the US June 2015. In honour of the historic ruling, landmarks around the country lit up in the colours of the rainbow, including the Empire State Buildings and the White House.
The Pray for Paris illustration, an Eiffel Tower adapted to resemble the peace symbol, became a symbol of solidarity following the attacks carried out by ISIS in Paris on November 13. 130 people were killed after gunmen raided several cafés, bars and the Bataclan music theatre in the French capital. They also carried out three explosions near the famous Stade De France.
Despite many attributing the work to Banksy, the design is by French artist Jean Jullien, whose original post was shared more than 28,000 times on Facebook.
The USA's remarkable victory in the FIFA Women's World Cup this year raised awareness surrounding inequality in the world of sport. The final against Japan drew in record ratings for Fox and was the most watched football game in US history, yet they still received $33 million less than Germany's men's team did in 2014. The team is now the most successful and recognisable in women's football and will be competing in the 2016 Olympics.
In a year when racial tensions mounted in the US following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, TIME Magazine published this startling image taken by Baltimore resident Devin Allen on its cover. The image depicts a protestor running from police as violent riots engulfed the city. Allen's images were featured by CNN, the BBC, and were shared thousands of times across social media.
Source: TIME
This is another image that reminded us of the severity of Europe's ongoing refugee crisis. This Syrian refugee was screaming at others to wait for him as he carried his son through a rainstorm towards Greece's border with Macedonia, near the Greek village of Idomeni, in September 2015.
This image from September captured the strained relations between Russia and the US. President Barack Obama and Russia's President Vladimir Putin had a rare meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Together, they agreed to hold talks to avoid coming into conflict in Syria while clashing over the future of the country while President Bashar al-Assad remains in power.
Prince William and Kate Middleton contributed an extra £3.4 billion to the British economy this year in the form of Princess Charlotte.
Humans of New York photographer Brandon Stanton has provided us with some of the most viral images of 2015. When he asked 13-year-old Vidal, pictured, who inspired him the most, he replied his principal Ms. Lopez. "One time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter," he said. His image and story went viral, and several weeks and 1 million likes later, over $1 million had been raised for Mott Hall Bridges Academy so that its students could go on field trips to Harvard for the next 10 years. Vidal and Ms. Lopez were also invited to the White House and a scholarship was set up in Vidal's name.
This is another HONY story that went viral with almost 300,000 shares on Facebook. The woman, whose name was not mentioned, recounted the tragic story of her journey between Turkey and Greece. She and her husband were put on a boat by smugglers along with 152 other refugees in the middle of the night. The boat hit a rock and filled with water before sinking. Her husband gave his life jacket to another woman but whilst swimming towards land, he became too tired to make it himself and told his wife he had to rest. That's the last time she saw him. Full Story: Facebook
It was a big year for the Pope Francis. The 78-year-old visited 12 countries and held papal masses for hundreds of thousands of Catholic worshippers.
FIFA, one of the largest governing bodies in the world of sport, came down hard this year as deep-rooted corruption tore the organisation apart. Seven officials were arrested in May and charged with racketeering, money-laundering, and wire fraud. Just a month later, the president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, resigned just three days after winning a fifth term.
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